After talking with others on my load and review of my video, I'm still looking for some answers. Ok, here's the scenario...1st group opens & secures door, they're a 8 way r/w group followed by another 6way r/w group then our five way (running from mid-ship). Everyone exits with no problem then as the last one diving out suddenly I'm knocked down to the floor by the door, WTF!?!? It happened so quickly I'm still trying to put things together since the video shows to door appears secure up til this point, next thing it shows is me on the floor with the door open only about two or three feet. Since my upper body is mostly outside, I just continued to roll out and away from the plane. Has anyone had this happen or seen anything like this?

After talking with others on my load and review of my video, I'm still looking for some answers. Ok, here's the scenario...1st group opens & secures door, they're a 8 way r/w group followed by another 6way r/w group then our five way (running from mid-ship). Everyone exits with no problem then as the last one diving out suddenly I'm knocked down to the floor by the door, WTF!?!? It happened so quickly I'm still trying to put things together since the video shows to door appears secure up til this point, next thing it shows is me on the floor with the door open only about two or three feet. Since my upper body is mostly outside, I just continued to roll out and away from the plane. Has anyone had this happen or seen anything like this?

Is it possible that someone exiting before you bumped their head on the door giving it a chance to be released from it's locks?

Didn't appear that anyone hit it going out but a couple guys said they felt the plane lunge between groups. It would seem to me that as long as it was latched properly it shouldn't come down no matter what, right?

I think that the door wasnt latched all the way. I was on this jump with him and i know i didnt see anybody hit the door and i know that i didnt. We told the rampie what happened and made sure he told who ever was opperating the door to double check that it was latched all the way for the rest of the day and it didnt happen again. We were the last group out and we ran out from mid plane so it caused the plane to pitch up then down after we exited. i think this caused the incomplete latch job to loosed up even more. And Tree was the last person out of that load. Hows the ankle doing now tree??

... (running from mid-ship). Everyone exits with no problem then as the last one diving out suddenly I'm knocked down to the floor by the door, ... Has anyone had this happen or seen anything like this?

Thought about YOU made an error? How to spot from mid-ship? How to get a save exit?

... (running from mid-ship). Everyone exits with no problem then as the last one diving out suddenly I'm knocked down to the floor by the door, ... Has anyone had this happen or seen anything like this?

Thought about YOU made an error? How to spot from mid-ship? How to get a save exit?

In our skyvan it is possible (difficult but possible) to get the closing pin ABOVE the insert that accepts it. There's a little lip above the insert that you can get the pin stuck on. It will then fall out with the slightest knock. It's never happened at altitude because there's so much vibration but I've managed to do it on the ground.

Opening the Skyvan door is often a high stress event because in many cases the first people out do not have a lot of experience with the door (floaters on the bigway) or is a cameraman who cannot get the door all the way up due to his wings - so it's a group effort, often with a lot of yelling and pressure. It is worthwhile to take a few extra seconds and do it right. It's also worthwhile to check it while you are waiting to give the group ahead of you time for separation purposes.

I had it happen with a tandem. Last out and as I set up for exit the door dropped right in front us. Since the plane was empty, I had my student help me lift the door and we slipped out underneath it. When I do tandems out of the Van now I make sure the person opening it knows how to latch it properly.

Cool thanks Scott, fractured the #3,4,& 5th metatarsals near the toes, xrays show real clean break and the doc said it should recovery rather nicely. I'm thankful that things didn't turn out worse. Thank you all for the input, I'll surely be extra cautious on the next skyvan Blue Skyz!!!

Opening the Skyvan door is often a high stress event because in many cases the first people out do not have a lot of experience with the door (floaters on the bigway) or is a cameraman who cannot get the door all the way up due to his wings - so it's a group effort, often with a lot of yelling and pressure.

Easy fix, have someone capable of working the door sit next to the door. The Skyvan is one of the easiest planes to move around in, so there's no reason not to seat a capable person next to the door. Even if that person is not in the first group out, it's no problem for them to walk towards the front of the plane after securing the door.

The other aspect of that is an aircraft emergency. If the pilot gives the order to exit, the last thing you want is to have to wait for someone who is not familiar with the door, or who is afraid of the door and hesitant with it's operation. Your best bet for success is to have a clear designation of responsibility ahead of time, so there's no need to figure things out or make changes in the event of an emergency.

Really scary. Does the original Skyvan have an hydraulic system for closing and opening the door ? If my memory is OK, I think its big brother, the Sherpa, has one. I have jumped quite a lot from a Sherpa this Summer.